Synthesis of webpage snippets using sub-pages of the webpage

ABSTRACT

A server device is configured to identify sub-pages corresponding to a particular webpage, where the particular webpage and the identified sub-pages may be associated with a same website; determine titles for the identified sub-pages; process the identified sub-pages to select a set of sub-pages, of the identified sub-pages, to use to generate a snippet for the particular webpage, where each webpage, in the set of sub-pages, may satisfy particular criteria, and a quantity of the set of sub-pages may be based on a length of a concatenation of the titles for the set of sub-pages; generate the snippet, for the particular webpage, using the titles for the set of sub-pages; and store the generated snippet in association with the particular webpage, where the generated snippet may be presented in a search result document when the particular webpage is identified as being relevant to a search query.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/879,746, filed Oct. 9, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/770,401, filed Feb. 19, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No.9,158,849, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/601,519, filed Feb. 21, 2012, the contents of each of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Many techniques are available to users today to find information on theworld wide web (“web”). For example, users often use web browsers and/orsearch engines to find information of interest. In response to a searchquery, a search engine may provide a search result document thatincludes a listing of webpages that were determined by the search engineto be relevant to the search query. Each webpage, in the listing ofwebpages, may be presented to the user as a title, a link to thewebpage, and a short description of the webpage. The short descriptionof the webpage is commonly referred to as a snippet.

A snippet, for a webpage, may include text from the webpage. The textmay be selected to include one or more of the terms of the search query.This can be beneficial in allowing the user to evaluate the relevance ofthe search query, as the snippet provides the user with context in whichthe webpage uses the search query.

SUMMARY

In some possible implementations, a method, performed by one or moreserver devices, may include identifying sub-pages corresponding to aparticular webpage, where the particular webpage and the identifiedsub-pages may be associated with a same website; determining titles forthe identified sub-pages; processing the identified sub-pages to selecta set of sub-pages, of the identified sub-pages, to use to generate asnippet for the particular webpage, where each of the set of sub-pagesmay satisfy particular criteria, and a quantity of the set of sub-pagesmay be based on a length of a concatenation of the titles for the set ofsub-pages; generating the snippet, for the particular webpage, using thetitles for the set of sub-pages; and storing the generated snippet inassociation with the particular webpage, where the generated snippet maybe presented in a search result document when the particular webpage isidentified as being relevant to a search query.

In some possible implementations, processing the identified sub-pages toselect the set of sub-pages may include determining that one of the setof sub-pages is linked to by the particular webpage, and selecting theone of the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on theone of the set of sub-pages being linked to by the particular webpage.

In some possible implementations, processing the identified sub-pages toselect the set of sub-pages may include determining a measure of qualityof one of the set of sub-pages, determining that the measure of quality,of the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfies a threshold, and selectingthe one of the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based onthe measure of quality, of the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfyingthe threshold.

In some possible implementations, processing the identified sub-pages toselect the set of sub-pages may include determining a length of thetitle for one of the set of sub-pages, determining that the length ofthe title, for the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfies a threshold,and selecting the one of the set of sub-pages to use to generate thesnippet based on the length of the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, processing the identified sub-pages toselect the set of sub-pages may include determining that the title, forone of the set of sub-pages, lacks one or more particular characters,and selecting the one of the set of sub-pages to use to generate thesnippet based on the title, for the one of the set of sub-pages, lackingthe one or more particular characters.

In some possible implementations, processing the identified sub-pages toselect the set of sub-pages may include determining a first length ofthe title for one of the set of sub-pages; determining a second lengthof one or more of the titles of one or more of the set of sub-pages,where the one or more of the set of sub-pages may be different from theone of the set of sub-pages; determining a total length based on a sumof the first length and the second length; determining that the totallength satisfies a threshold; and selecting the one of the set ofsub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on the total lengthsatisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, generating the snippet may includeconcatenating the titles, for the set of sub-pages, to form aconcatenation of titles, and generating the snippet using theconcatenation of titles.

In some possible implementations, a system may include one or moreserver devices. The one or more server devices may identify sub-pagescorresponding to a particular webpage, where the particular webpage andthe identified sub-pages may be associated with a same website;determine titles for the identified sub-pages; process the identifiedsub-pages to select a set of sub-pages, of the identified sub-pages, touse to generate a snippet for the particular webpage, where each of theset of sub-pages may satisfy particular criteria, and a quantity of theset of sub-pages may be based on a length of a concatenation of thetitles for the set of sub-pages; generate the snippet, for theparticular webpage, using the titles for the set of sub-pages; and storethe generated snippet in association with the particular webpage, wherethe generated snippet may be presented in a search result document whenthe particular webpage is identified as being relevant to a searchquery.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices, whenprocessing the identified sub-pages to select the set of sub-pages, maydetermine a measure of quality of one of the set of sub-pages, determinethat the measure of quality, of the one of the set of sub-pages,satisfies a threshold, and select the one of the set of sub-pages to useto generate the snippet based on the measure of quality, of the one ofthe set of sub-pages, satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices, whenprocessing the identified sub-pages to select the set of sub-pages, maydetermine a length of the title for one of the set of sub-pages,determine that the length of the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, satisfies a threshold, and select the one of the set ofsub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on the length of thetitle, for the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices, whenprocessing the identified sub-pages to select the set of sub-pages, maydetermine a first length of the title for one of the set of sub-pages;determine a second length of one or more of the titles of one or more ofthe set of sub-pages, where the one or more of the set of sub-pages maybe different from the one of the set of sub-pages; determine a totallength based on a sum of the first length and the second length;determine that the total length satisfies a threshold; and select theone of the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on thetotal length satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices, whenidentifying the sub-pages, may determine the sub-pages based on a linkstructure or a website hierarchy of the website, where the sub-pages maybe determined based on positions of the sub-pages, relative to theparticular webpage, in the link structure or the website hierarchy.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices mayfurther receive the search query; identify the particular webpage asbeing relevant to the search query; generate the search result document,where the search result document may include the snippet generated forthe particular webpage; and provide the search result document as aresponse to the search query.

In some possible implementations, the one or more server devices, whenprocessing the identified sub-pages to select the set of sub-pages, maydetermine that one of the set of sub-pages is linked to by theparticular webpage, determine a measure of quality of the one of the setof sub-pages, determine a length of the title for the one of the set ofsub-pages, determine that the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, lacks one or more particular characters, and select the oneof the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on: the oneof the set of sub-pages being linked to by the particular webpage, themeasure of quality, of the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfying afirst threshold, the length of the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, satisfying a second threshold, and the title, for the one ofthe set of sub-pages, lacking the one or more particular characters.

In some possible implementations, a computer-readable medium may storeinstructions. The instructions may include a set of instructions which,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: identify sub-pages corresponding to a particular webpage,where the particular webpage and the identified sub-pages may beassociated with a same website; determine titles for the identifiedsub-pages; process the identified sub-pages to select a set ofsub-pages, of the identified sub-pages, to use to generate a snippet forthe particular webpage, where each of the set of sub-pages may satisfyparticular criteria, and a quantity of the set of sub-pages may be basedon a length of a concatenation of the titles for the set of sub-pages;generate the snippet, for the particular webpage, using the titles forthe set of sub-pages; and store the generated snippet in associationwith the particular webpage, where the generated snippet may bepresented in a search result document when the particular webpage isidentified as being relevant to a search query.

In some possible implementations, one or more instructions, of the setof instructions, to process the identified sub-pages to select the setof sub-pages may include one or more instructions which, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors todetermine that one of the set of sub-pages is linked to by theparticular webpage, and select the one of the set of sub-pages to use togenerate the snippet based on the one of the set of sub-pages beinglinked to by the particular webpage.

In some possible implementations, one or more instructions, of the setof instructions, to process the identified sub-pages to select the setof sub-pages may include one or more instructions which, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors todetermine a length of the title for one of the set of sub-pages,determine that the length of the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, satisfies a threshold, and select the one of the set ofsub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on the length of thetitle, for the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, one or more instructions, of the setof instructions, to process the identified sub-pages to select the setof sub-pages may include one or more instructions which, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors todetermine a first length of the title for one of the set of sub-pages;determine a second length of one or more of the titles of one or more ofthe set of sub-pages, where the one or more of the set of sub-pages maybe different from the one of the set of sub-pages; determine a totallength based on a sum of the first length and the second length;determine that the total length satisfies a threshold, and select theone of the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on thetotal length satisfying the threshold.

In some possible implementations, one or more instructions, of the setof instructions, to identify the sub-pages may include one or moreinstructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe one or more processors to determine the sub-pages based on a linkstructure or a website hierarchy of the website, where the sub-pages maybe determined based on positions of the sub-pages, relative to theparticular webpage, in the link structure or the website hierarchy.

In some possible implementations, one or more instructions, of the setof instructions, to process the identified sub-pages to select the setof sub-pages may include one or more instructions which, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors todetermine that one of the set of sub-pages is linked to by theparticular webpage, determine a measure of quality of the one of the setof sub-pages, determine a length of the title for the one of the set ofsub-pages, determine that the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, lacks one or more particular characters, and select the oneof the set of sub-pages to use to generate the snippet based on: the oneof the set of sub-pages being linked to by the particular webpage, themeasure of quality, of the one of the set of sub-pages, satisfying afirst threshold, the length of the title, for the one of the set ofsub-pages, satisfying a second threshold, and the title, for the one ofthe set of sub-pages, lacking the one or more particular characters.

In some possible implementations, a system may include means foridentifying sub-pages corresponding to a particular webpage, where theparticular webpage and the identified sub-pages may be associated with asame website; means for determining titles for the identified sub-pages;means for processing the identified sub-pages to select a set ofsub-pages, of the identified sub-pages, to use to generate a snippet forthe particular webpage, where each of the set of sub-pages may satisfyparticular criteria, and a quantity of the set of sub-pages may be basedon a length of a concatenation of the titles for the set of sub-pages;means for generating the snippet, for the particular webpage, using thetitles for the set of sub-pages; and means for storing the generatedsnippet in association with the particular webpage, where the generatedsnippet may be presented in a search result document when the particularwebpage is identified as being relevant to a search query.

The above discussion mentions examples in which some implementations maybe implemented via one or more methods performed by one or moreprocessors of one or more devices. In some implementations, one or moresystems and/or one or more devices may be configured to perform one ormore of the acts mentioned above. In some implementations, acomputer-readable medium may include computer-executable instructionswhich, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform one or more of the acts mentioned above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more implementationsdescribed herein and, together with the description, explain theseimplementations. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of an implementationdescribed herein;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example environment in which techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented;

FIG. 3 shows an example of a generic computing device and a genericmobile computing device, which may be used with the techniques describedherein;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating information that may be stored forwebpages;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an example process for generating a synthesizedsnippet;

FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating generation of asynthesized snippet by concatenating the titles of a number ofsub-pages;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example process for using synthesizedsnippets in search results that include shortcut links;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example interface that may beprovided to a user as part of presentation of a search result document;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example process for using synthesizedsnippets in search results; and

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example interface that may beprovided to a user as part of a search result document.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the sameor similar elements.

In some implementations, a snippet may be provided, as part of a searchresult document that provides a link to a webpage, in which the snippetfor the webpage is synthesized from text that is associated withsub-pages for the webpage. This type of snippet may be referred to as asynthesized snippet herein. In some implementations, a comparison may bemade between a synthesized snippet, for a webpage, and a normal snippet,such as a snippet based on text from the webpage, to determine whetherto provide the normal snippet or the synthesized snippet in the searchresult document. A snippet, as the term is used herein, may refer to ashort description of a webpage. A snippet is commonly presented as partof search results from a search engine, such as a web search engine.

Synthesized snippets may be generated based on the content of sub-pages,for the webpage, that is described by the synthesized snippet. In someimplementations, a sub-page is a webpage that is part of the samewebsite as the webpage that is described by the synthesized snippet andis directly or indirectly linked to by the webpage that is described bythe synthesized snippet. Alternatively, or additionally, a sub-page canbe from a different website or can be part of the same website but notdirectly or indirectly linked to by the webpage.

As used herein, information relating to sub-pages of a webpage may beobtained from or correspond to shortcut links for the webpage. Shortcutlinks, an example of which may include sitelinks, may include links,presented as part of search results, that may be used to present a userwith shortcuts to other webpages, associated with the same webpage, thatmay be related to a search result. For example, the first search resultin a search result document may reference a webpage about a certainsoftware application. Shortcut links may be provided, as part of thefirst search result, as links to other webpages, such as a webpage viawhich a user may download the software application or a webpage thatincludes frequently asked questions about the software application.These webpages, included as shortcut links, may generally be webpagesthat are associated with the same website as the main webpage. Shortcutlinks for a webpage may be determined automatically based on theanalysis of the link structure for a website.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of an implementationdescribed herein. In the example of FIG. 1, assume that the user enteredthe search query “examplestore,” which may be a search query that isintended as a navigational query to take the user to the website for“examplestore.com.” The top result may be the homepage for the website“examplestore.com.” Two example search results, providing the topresult, i.e., a reference to the webpage “examplestore.com,” areillustrated in FIG. 1 as search result 110 and search result 120. Thewebpage “examplestore.com” may be associated with a number of shortcutlinks 130, such as shortcut links that were determined based on a linkanalysis of the website of “examplestore.com.” Each shortcut link 130may include a title and a snippet relating to a sub-page ofexamplestore.com. Although not shown in FIG. 1, in some implementations,the shortcut links may be included as part of search results 110 and/or120.

For both of search results 110 and 120, a snippet may be provided thatprovides additional information describing the webpage associated with“examplestore.com.” For search result 110, the snippet may be a snippetthat was determined based on the text of the webpage. For search result120, the snippet may be a synthesized snippet that was determined byconcatenating the title text of shortcut links 130.

In some situations, the synthesized snippet, of search result 120, mayprovide a more informative and/or useful snippet than the snippet ofsearch result 110. In the illustrated example, for instance, the snippetfor search result 110, “ExampleStore is an online retailer of products .. . ,” may provide relatively little additional information to thatwhich is provided in the title of search result 110. In contrast, thesynthesized snippet may provide additional information that is morelikely to be valuable to the user. Thus, in this example, it may bedesirable for a search engine to provide the synthesized snippet, aspart of a search result in a search result document, rather than thenormal snippet.

While the description to follow will refer to webpages, the conceptsdescribed herein may be applied to documents. A document may be broadlyinterpreted to include any machine-readable and machine-storable workproduct. A document may include, for example, an e-mail, a website, afile, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links toother files, a news group posting, a news article, a blog, a businesslisting, an electronic version of printed text, a web advertisement,etc. In the context of the Internet, a common document is a webpage.Documents often include textual information and may include embeddedinformation, such as meta information, images, hyperlinks, etc., and/orembedded instructions, such as Javascript, etc. A link, as the term isused herein, is to be broadly interpreted to include any reference to adocument from another document or another part of the same document.

A website, as the term is used herein, may refer to a collection ofrelated webpages. Frequently, a website may be associated with a singledomain, although some websites may potentially encompass more than onedomain.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example environment 200 in which techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented. Environment 200 may includemultiple clients 205 connected to one or more servers 210-220 via anetwork 230. In some implementations, and as illustrated, server 210 maybe a search server, which may implement a search engine, and server 220may be a document indexing server, e.g., a web crawler and/or indexer.Clients 205 and servers 210-220 may connect to network 230 via wiredconnections, wireless connections, or a combination of wired andwireless connections.

Three clients 205 and two servers 210-220 are illustrated as connectedto network 230 for simplicity. In practice, there may be additional orfewer clients and/or servers. Also, in some instances, a client mayperform one or more functions of a server, and a server may perform oneor more functions of a client.

Clients 205 may include devices of users that access servers 210-220. Aclient 205 may include, for instance, a personal computer, a wirelesstelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop, a smartphone, atablet computer, or another type of computation or communication device.Servers 210-220 may include devices that access, fetch, aggregate,process, search, provide, and/or maintain documents. Although shown assingle servers 210 and 220 in FIG. 2, each server 210 and 220 may, insome implementations, be implemented as multiple computing devices,which potentially may be geographically distributed.

Search server 210 may include one or more computing devices designed toimplement a search engine, such as an image search engine, a generalwebpage search engine, a product search engine, a local search engine,etc. Search server 210 may, for example, include one or more web serversto receive search queries from clients 205, search one or more memoriesto identify documents relevant to the search queries, and provide asearch result document, containing links to the documents, to clients205.

Document indexing server 220 may include one or more computing devicesdesigned to index documents available through network 230. Documentindexing server 220 may access other servers, such as web servers thathost content, to index the content. Document indexing server 220 mayprovide its index to search server 210, for use by search server 210when processing search queries.

While servers 210-220 are shown as separate entities, servers 210-220may perform one or more of the functions of the other one of servers210-220. In some implementations, servers 210 and 220 may be implementedas a single server. In some implementations, a single one of servers 210and 220 may be implemented as two or more separate, and possiblydistributed, devices.

Network 230 may include one or more networks of any type, such as alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), a telephone network, such as the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN) or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), anintranet, the Internet, a memory device, or a combination of networks.

Although FIG. 2 shows example components of environment 200, in someimplementations, environment 200 may contain fewer components, differentcomponents, differently arranged components, or additional componentsthan those depicted in FIG. 2. Alternatively, or additionally, one ormore components of environment 200 may perform one or more other tasksdescribed as being performed by one or more other components ofenvironment 200.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a generic computing device 300 and a genericmobile computing device 350, which may be used with the techniquesdescribed herein. Computing device 300 may correspond to, for example,client 205 and/or server 210 and/or 220. For example, each of clients205 and servers 210 and/or 220 may include one or more computing devices300. Mobile computing device 350 may correspond to, for example,portable implementations of clients 205.

Computing device 300 is intended to represent various forms of digitalcomputers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digitalassistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriatecomputers. Mobile computing device 350 is intended to represent variousforms of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, cellulartelephones, smart phones, and other similar computing devices. Thecomponents shown here, their connections and relationships, and theirfunctions, are meant to be examples only, and are not meant to limitimplementations described and/or claimed in this document.

Computing device 300 may include a processor 302, memory 304, a storagedevice 306, a high-speed interface 308 connecting to memory 304 andhigh-speed expansion ports 310, and a low speed interface 312 connectingto low speed bus 314 and storage device 306. Each of the components 302,304, 306, 308, 310, and 312, may be interconnected using various busses,and may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners asappropriate. Processor 302 may process instructions for execution withincomputing device 300, including instructions stored in the memory 304 oron storage device 306 to display graphical information for a graphicaluser interface (GUI) on an external input/output device, such as display316 coupled to high speed interface 308. In some implementations,multiple processors and/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate,along with multiple memories and types of memory. Also, multiplecomputing devices 300 may be connected, with each device providingportions of the necessary operations, e.g., as a server bank, a group ofblade servers, or a multi-processor system, etc.

Memory 304 may store information within computing device 300. In someimplementations, memory 304 may include a volatile memory unit or units.In some implementations, memory 304 may include a non-volatile memoryunit or units. Memory 304 may also be another form of computer-readablemedium, such as a magnetic or optical disk. A computer-readable mediummay be defined as a non-transitory memory device. A memory device mayinclude memory space within a single physical storage device or memoryspace spread across multiple physical storage devices.

Storage device 306 may provide mass storage for computing device 300. Insome implementations, storage device 306 may include a computer-readablemedium, such as a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an opticaldisk device, or a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solidstate memory device, or an array of devices, including devices in astorage area network or other configurations. A computer program productmay be tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer programproduct may also contain instructions that, when executed, perform oneor more methods, such as those described below. The information carriermay include a computer or machine-readable medium, such as memory 304,storage device 306, or memory included within processor 302.

High speed controller 308 may manage bandwidth-intensive operations forcomputing device 300, while low speed controller 312 may manage lowerbandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation of functions is anexample only. In some implementations, high-speed controller 308 may becoupled to memory 304, display 316, e.g., through a graphics processoror accelerator, and to high-speed expansion ports 310, which may acceptvarious expansion cards (not shown). In these implementations, low-speedcontroller 312 may be coupled to storage device 306 and to low-speedexpansion port 314. Low-speed expansion port 314, which may includevarious communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wirelessEthernet) may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as akeyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device, such asa switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.

Computing device 300 may be implemented in a number of different forms,as shown in FIG. 3. For example, it may be implemented as a standardserver 320, or multiple times in a group of such servers. It may also beimplemented as part of a rack server system 324. Additionally oralternatively, computing device 300 may be implemented in a personalcomputer, such as a laptop computer 322. Additionally or alternatively,components from computing device 300 may be combined with othercomponents in a mobile device (not shown), such as mobile computingdevice 350. Each of such devices may contain one or more of computingdevice 300, mobile computing device 350, and/or an entire system may bemade up of multiple computing devices 300 and/or mobile computingdevices 350 communicating with each other.

Mobile computing device 350 may include a processor 352, a memory 364,an input/output (I/O) device such as a display 354, a communicationinterface 366, and a transceiver 368, among other components. Mobilecomputing device 350 may also be provided with a storage device, such asa micro-drive or other device (not shown), to provide additionalstorage. Each of components 350, 352, 364, 354, 366, and 368, may beinterconnected using various buses, and several of the components may bemounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate.

Processor 352 may execute instructions within mobile computing device350, including instructions stored in memory 364. Processor 352 may beimplemented as a set of chips that may include separate and multipleanalog and/or digital processors. Processor 352 may provide, forexample, for coordination of the other components of mobile computingdevice 350, such as, for example, control of user interfaces,applications run by mobile computing device 350, and/or wirelesscommunication by mobile computing device 350.

Processor 352 may communicate with a user through control interface 358and a display interface 356 coupled to a display 354. Display 354 mayinclude, for example, a TFT Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display(TFT LCD), an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, and/or otherappropriate display technology. Display interface 356 may compriseappropriate circuitry for driving display 354 to present graphical andother information to a user. Control interface 358 may receive commandsfrom a user and convert them for submission to processor 352. Inaddition, an external interface 362 may be in communication withprocessor 352, so as to enable near area communication of mobilecomputing device 350 with other devices. External interface 362 mayprovide, for example, for wired communication in some implementations,or for wireless communication in other implementations, and multipleinterfaces may also be used.

Memory 364 may store information within mobile computing device 350.Memory 364 can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readablemedium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatilememory unit or units. Expansion memory 374 may also be provided andconnected to mobile communication device 350 through expansion interface372, which may include, for example, a SIMM (Single In Line MemoryModule) card interface. Such expansion memory 374 may provide extrastorage space for mobile computing device 350, or may also storeapplications or other information for mobile computing device 350.Specifically, expansion memory 374 may include instructions to carry outor supplement the processes described above, and may also include secureinformation. Thus, for example, expansion memory 374 may be provided asa security module for mobile computing device 350, and may be programmedwith instructions that permit secure use of mobile computing device 350.In addition, secure applications may be provided via SIMM cards, alongwith additional information, such as placing identifying information ona SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.

Memory 364 and/or expansion memory 374 may include, for example, flashmemory and/or NVRAM memory, as discussed below. In some implementations,a computer program product may be tangibly embodied in an informationcarrier. The computer program product may store instructions that, whenexecuted, perform one or more methods, such as those described herein.The information carrier may correspond to a computer- ormachine-readable medium, such as the memory 364, expansion memory 374,or memory included within processor 352, that may be received, forexample, over transceiver 368 or over external interface 362.

Mobile computing device 350 may communicate wirelessly through acommunication interface 366, which may include digital signal processingcircuitry where necessary. Communication interface 366 may provide forcommunications under various modes or protocols, such as GSM voicecalls, SMS, EMS, or MMS messaging, CDMA, TDMA, PDC, WCDMA, CDMA2000, orGPRS, among others. Such communication may occur, for example, throughradio-frequency transceiver 368. In addition, short-range communicationmay occur, such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver(not shown). In addition, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receivermodule 370 may provide additional navigation- and location-relatedwireless data to mobile computing device 350, which may be used asappropriate by applications running on mobile computing device 350.

Mobile computing device 350 may also communicate audibly using an audiocodec 360, which may receive spoken information from a user and convertit to usable digital information. Audio codec 360 may likewise generateaudible sound for a user, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handsetof mobile computing device 350. Such sound may include sound from voicetelephone calls, may include recorded sound (e.g., voice messages, musicfiles, etc.) and may also include sound generated by applicationsoperating on mobile computing device 350.

Mobile computing device 350 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in FIG. 3. For example, it may be implemented as acellular telephone 380. It may also be implemented as part of a smartphone 382, a personal digital assistant (not shown), and/or othersimilar mobile device.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described hereinmay be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations may include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) may include machine instructions for aprogrammable processor, and may be implemented in a high-levelprocedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or inassembly/machine language. As used herein, the terms “machine-readablemedium” and “computer-readable medium” may refer to any computer programproduct, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks,memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machineinstructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including amachine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as amachine-readable signal. The term “machine-readable signal” may refer toany signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to aprogrammable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented on a computer having a displaydevice (e.g., a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD)monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and apointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user canprovide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices may be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedbackprovided to the user may be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visualfeedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from theuser may be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactileinput.

The systems and techniques described herein may be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a dataserver), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computerhaving a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a usercan interact with an implementation of the systems and techniquesdescribed here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, orfront end components. The components of the systems may beinterconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication(e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), andthe Internet.

Although FIG. 3 shows example components of computing device 300 andmobile computing device 350, computing device 300 or mobile computingdevice 350 may include fewer components, different components,additional components, or differently arranged components than depictedin FIG. 3. Additionally or alternatively, one or more components ofcomputing device 300 or mobile computing device 350 may perform one ormore tasks described as being performed by one or more other componentsof computing device 300 or mobile computing device 350.

Synthesized snippets, for a webpage, may be generated based oninformation obtained from sub-pages of the webpage. The sub-pages forthe webpage may be determined based on a link analysis of the webpage.In some implementations, the sub-pages of a first webpage may includewebpages that are directly or indirectly linked to by the first webpageand that are part of the same website as the first webpage. Thesub-pages of the first webpage may also include webpages that may notnecessarily be linked by traditional links. For example, a directoryanalysis, for example based on the strings of the uniform resourcelocators (URLs) of a webpage, may be performed to determine sub-pages.For example, “examplestore/books/fiction” begins with“examplestore/books,” indicating that the fiction webpage may be asub-page of the Books webpage. As another example, so-called“breadcrumb” links on a webpage may be used to determine sub-pages. Abreadcrumb may refer to a navigation aid that may be presented bywebpages to provide a user with an indication of their location in awebsite (e.g., a user browsing the fiction section of an onlinebookstore may be provided the breadcrumb “books>fiction”). Thebreadcrumbs may be parsed to determine link structures that may be usedto define sub-pages.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating information that may be stored forwebpages. The information may be obtained and/or generated by searchserver 210 and/or document indexing server 220. For example, webpageshosted by web servers connected to network 230 may be crawled bydocument indexing server 220. A number of webpages, illustrated aswebpage_1 through webpage_k, are illustrated in FIG. 4. An address 410,a header 420, one or more sub-pages 430 and corresponding sub-pagetitles 435, and a synthesized snippet 440 may be associated with eachwebpage.

Address 410 may be a URL or a uniform resource identifier (URI) and maybe stored for each webpage. Addresses 410 may be obtained as part of thecrawling process by document indexing server 220.

Header 420 may also be associated with each webpage. In someimplementations, header 420 may include text extracted from the webpageand/or text extracted from other sources. The text may serve as a briefdescription or title for the webpage. In some implementations, header420 may correspond to anchor text that is used as a title, correspondingto the webpage, in search results that include that webpage. A number oftechniques may be used to extract a header 420 for a webpage. Forexample, text that is near the top of the webpage or text that isformatted to be prominently presented, such as header text in ahypertext markup language (HTML) document, may be selected as a header420 for the webpage.

Sub-pages 430/titles 435 may include sub-pages and titles that aredetermined to be relevant to the webpage. As previously mentioned,sub-pages 430, for a webpage, may be determined based on a link analysisof the webpage. In some implementations, each sub-page 430 maycorrespond to a webpage that is determined to be a potential shortcutlink for a parent webpage. A shortcut link, as described previously, mayinclude links, presented as part of search results, that may be used topresent a user with shortcuts to other webpages. Titles 435 may includedescriptive text, which may be determined based on text or otherinformation associated with sub-pages 430. Titles 435 may be chosen asrelatively short, e.g., less than 30 or 40 characters, descriptors for awebpage. In some implementations, each title 435 may correspond to theheader 420 of the sub-page 430. That is, each sub-page 430 may also bean indexed webpage that may, thus, have a corresponding header 420 thatmay be used as the title 435 for the sub-page 430.

Not all webpages may be associated with sub-pages. For example, in someimplementations, only top-level webpages of a website may be candidatesfor shortcut links and/or sub-pages. For instance, only the homepage andwebpages within a particular number of links of the homepage may be ashortcut link/sub-page candidate. In some implementations, additionalfactors, such as a quality score, for example, a query-independentquality score, associated with a webpage or user traffic to the webpage,may be considered when determining whether a webpage is a shortcut linkand/or sub-page candidate. For example, in some implementations, onlywebpages with quality scores or user traffic to the webpages satisfyinga particular threshold may be used as shortcut link and/or sub-pagecandidates.

Synthesized snippet 440 may include descriptive text that is based onthe sub-pages 430/titles 435 of the webpage. The descriptive text may begenerated based on the titles in sub-pages 430/titles 435. In someimplementations, synthesized snippet 440 may be dynamically generated inresponse to a search query. In this situation, synthesized snippet 440may not necessarily be stored ahead of time (e.g., prior to receivingthe search query). In some implementations, synthesized snippets 440 maybe generated and stored ahead of time. The creation and usage ofsynthesized snippet 440 will be described in more detail below.

The information shown in FIG. 4, for each of a number of webpages,provides one example of fields that may be stored or generated for awebpage. In some implementations, fewer or additional fields may begenerated or stored. For example, scores used to represent the qualityof a webpage or sub-page may additionally be generated and stored.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an example process 500 for generating asynthesized snippet. Process 500 may be performed by, for example,search server 210 and/or document indexing server 220.

Process 500 includes determining the sub-pages for a webpage (block510). In some implementations, the sub-pages may be determinedautomatically based on analysis of the link structure of the webpage ora website containing the webpage. For example, webpages, that aredirectly or indirectly linked to by a first webpage and that are part ofthe same website as the first webpage, may be determined to besub-pages. As another example, webpages, that are part of the samewebsite as the first webpage and that are below the first webpage in awebsite hierarchy, as determined by the URLs of the webpages, may becandidates to be sub-pages. As another example, webmasters may be giventhe ability to indicate which webpages should be classified assub-pages.

In some possible implementations, instead of determining sub-pages for awebpage based on the link structure of a website, other structuralinformation in the webpage may be used to determine the sub-pages. Forexample, for a webpage that includes prominently defined internal linksto the webpage itself, such as a single webpage with a table of contentssection that is used to internally define breaks in the webpage, thesub-pages may be defined as different sections within the webpage.Alternatively, the webpage may include prominent section headings butmay not necessarily include internal links. In this situation, thesection headings may be used to determine the sub-pages within thewebpage.

In some situations, a search server 210 may, for some search resultdocuments, provide shortcut links as part of one or more of the searchresults in the search result documents. Webpages that are selected aspossible shortcut links may also be used as sub-pages for purposes ofdetermining synthesized snippets. In this case, the processing done todetermine the potential shortcut links may be leveraged for thedetermination of the subpages for the webpage.

Process 500 further includes determining titles for the sub-pages (block520), for example, as described above with respect to FIG. 4.

Process 500 further includes selecting sub-pages to use for thesynthesized snippet (block 530). The sub-pages may be selected from theset of sub-pages determined in block 510. In some implementations, thesub-pages may be selected based on parameters associated with thesub-pages, such as quality scores associated with the sub-pages. Forexample, a particular quantity of the sub-pages with the highest qualityscores may be selected. As another example, the sub-pages may beselected as sub-pages that are associated with quality scores above aparticular threshold. As another example, titles of the sub-pages may beused in selecting sub-pages. For example, in addition to selectingtitles based on the quality scores of the sub-pages, other factors maybe considered, such as whether the titles would be effective in asnippet. For example, if a title is too long and is not easilytruncated, the sub-page may not be selected even if the quality score ishigh. As another example, the quantity of sub-pages to be selected maybe determined based on a desired length of the synthesized snippet.

Process 500 further includes generating a synthesized snippet based onthe titles of the selected sub-pages (block 540). In someimplementations, the titles, corresponding to the selected sub-pages,may be concatenated to generate the synthesized snippet. For example, insome implementations, the sub-pages may be ranked, for example, based ontheir quality scores or user traffic, and the titles for the sub-pagesare concatenated according to the order of the sub-pages. In otherpossible implementations, other techniques may be used to generate asynthesized snippet based on the selected sub-pages. One particularexample of a technique that may be used to implement blocks 530 and 540will be described next.

As a more detailed description of one example of a technique that may beused to implement blocks 530 and 540, to generate a synthesized snippet,consider a technique in which each of the titles, for sub-pagescorresponding to a particular webpage, are sequentially processed fromhighest quality score to lowest quality score of the sub-pages. A titlemay be selected when the corresponding sub-page satisfies the criteria:(1) the sub-page is directly linked to by the webpage; (2) a qualityscore of the corresponding sub-page is greater than a first threshold;(3) the sub-page has a title length less than a second threshold, e.g.,20 or 30 characters; (4) the title of the sub-page does not containcertain characters such as commas, dashes, or periods; and (5) thelength of the title, when added to the total length of the previouslyselected titles, results in a total length less than a third threshold.Criteria (1)-(5) represent one example of a technique that can be usedto generate a synthesized snippet. Other techniques could alternativelyor additionally be used and/or one or more of criteria (1)-(5) can beomitted or modified. For example, criteria (3) may be helpful but notstrictly necessary. For instance, the title may be truncated if theother criteria indicate that the title for the sub-page should beselected. As another example, for criteria (1), a sub-page mayadditionally be connected to the webpage through breadcrumb links orstring analysis of URLs.

FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating generation of asynthesized snippet by concatenating the titles of a number ofsub-pages. In this example, assume that three sub-pages, labeled assub-pages 610, 620, and 630, are selected to be used to generatesynthesized snippet 640. Sub-page 610 is associated with the title“Books,” sub-page 620 is associated with the title “Movies & TV,” andsub-page 630 is associated with the title “Clothing” Synthesized snippet640 may include a concatenation of the three titles: “Books-Movies &TV-Clothing.”

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example process 700 for using synthesizedsnippets in search results that include shortcut links. Process 700 maybe performed by, for example, search server 210.

Process 700 includes receiving a search query (block 710). The searchquery may be received from a client 205, and may be, for example, asearch query relating to a general web search, a news search, an imagesearch, or another type of search.

Process 700 further includes identifying webpages, responsive to thesearch query, as search results (block 720). The webpages may beidentified by a search engine using a search algorithm. The webpages maybe documents that are determined to be relevant to the search query.

Process 700 further includes, for each webpage included in the searchresults, determining whether to provide shortcut links for the webpagewith the search results (block 730). In some implementations, shortcutlinks may only be provided for certain webpages included in the searchresults. For example, shortcut links may only be provided if the webpageis determined to be a highly relevant search result, such as a topsearch result that is determined to likely be the webpage to which theuser intends to navigate. Alternatively or additionally, shortcut linksmay only be provided for webpages that are determined to have a qualityscore above a particular threshold or that have a relevance score, thatmeasures the relevance of the webpage to the search query, above aparticular threshold.

Process 700 further includes determining a normal snippet and asynthesized snippet for each shortcut link that is to be presented aspart of the search results (block 740). As previously mentioned, anormal snippet may include a snippet that is based on text extractedfrom the webpage that is being described by the snippet. The normalsnippet may include at least some of the terms of the search query. Thesynthesized snippet may include a snippet that was generated using aprocess, such as process 500 (FIG. 5).

Process 700 further includes, for each shortcut link, determiningwhether to use the normal snippet or the synthesized snippet whenproviding the shortcut link (block 750). In general, it may be desirableto provide a synthesized snippet, instead of the normal snippet, whenthe synthesized snippet provides a higher-quality description of theshortcut link webpage than the normal snippet. For example, in someimplementations, scores relating the relevance of the normal snippet tothe shortcut link webpage and the synthesized snippet to the shortcutlink webpage may be calculated, and the synthesized snippet may beprovided when the score of the synthesized snippet is greater than thescore of the normal snippet. The score of the synthesized snippet may bebased on, for example, a number of sub-pages included in the text of thesynthesized snippet, the number of candidate sub-pages that could havebeen used to generate the text of the synthesized snippet, the length ofthe synthesized snippet, and/or quality scores associated with thesub-pages that were used to form the synthesized snippet. In someimplementations, the quality scores, associated with the sub-pages thatwere used to form the synthesized snippet, may be combined to obtain thescore of the synthesized snippet. The score relating the relevance ofthe normal snippet to the shortcut link webpage may be determined basedon, for example, the estimated importance of the terms in the normalsnippet in the shortcut link webpage, or other factors.

In some implementations, the type of the normal snippet may be relevantto the determination of whether to provide the normal snippet or thesynthesized snippet. For instance, the text of some normal snippets maybe based on meta-descriptions that are explicitly indicated by adesigner of the webpage. These snippets may be considered to be snippetsof type “meta” while other normal snippets, such as snippets generatedautomatically from text of the corresponding webpage may be consideredto be a different type of snippet. In these implementations, the type ofthe snippet may be stored. In some implementations, snippets based onmeta-descriptions may be selected over a synthesized snippet. Additionalchecks to determine the quality or relevance of the snippet may beperformed before selecting the snippet.

Process 700 further includes generating a search result document,including the determined shortcut links and the normal and/orsynthesized snippets (block 760). Search server 210 may include links,to the relevant webpages, in the search result document, which may be,for example, an HTML document. In addition to the links to the relevantwebpages, the search result document may include other information, suchas the determined shortcut links, and, for each of the determinedshortcut links, a normal and/or synthesized snippet.

Process 700 further includes transmitting the search result document tothe client, such as a client 205 (block 770). Client 205, in response toreceiving the search result document, may provide the search resultdocument to the user. For example, a web browser executing at client 205may render the search result document in a user interface at client 205.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example interface 800 that may beprovided to a user as part of presentation of a search result documentformed pursuant to process 700. Interface 800 may be provided, by abrowser program executing at a client 205, in response to receiving asearch result document from search server 210. Interface 800 may includea search box 810 and search results 820 and 830. Search result 820 mayrefer to the webpage “primarygames.com” and include a link 822, to“primarygames.com,” and a snippet 824 for the webpage referred to bysearch result 820. Additionally, search result 820 may include a numberof shortcut links 840. Each shortcut link 840 may provide a link to asub-page of the webpage referred to by link 822.

Some of shortcut links 840 may include synthesized snippets while otherones of shortcut links 840 may include normal snippets. For example, asillustrated, the shortcut links 840 labeled “Arcade Games” and “Math”may include snippets that are synthesized snippets, where the terms ofthe synthesized snippets are based on the titles of sub-pages of therespective shortcut links 840. For instance, assume that the shortcutlink “Math” refers to the webpage “primarygames.com/math.” Sub-pages ofthis webpage may include webpages that were determined to be associatedwith the titles “Skater Math,” “Math Man,” “Dress Up Math,” “PrincessMath,” and “Math Lines.” The synthesized snippet for this webpage iscorrespondingly shown as “Skater Math-Math Man-Dress Up Math-PrincessMath-Math Lines.” Similarly, assume that the shortcut link “ArcadeGames” refers to the webpage “primarygames.com/arcade_games.” Sub-pagesof this webpage may include webpages that were determined to beassociated with the titles “Racing Games,” “Action Games,” “Dress UpGames,” and “Sports Games.” The synthesized snippet for this webpage iscorrespondingly shown as “Racing Games-Action Games-Dress UpGames-Sports Games.”

A synthesized snippet, as shown in FIG. 8, may provide a higher-qualitydescription of the webpage than a normal snippet. In FIG. 8, forinstance, the shortcut links “Games-PrimaryGames.com” and “Trials 2” areprovided using normal snippets. In this case, the normal snippetsinclude the text “fun site for teachers, parents, and kids featuringfree educational . . . ,” which may be relatively generic text thatprovides a lower quality description of the underlying webpage than thetext of the synthesized snippets.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example process 900 for using synthesizedsnippets in search results. In contrast to process 700 (FIG. 7), process900 may provide synthesized snippets in search results that do notnecessarily include shortcut links. Process 900 may be performed by, forexample, search server 210.

Process 900 includes receiving a search query (block 910). The searchquery may be received from a client 205, and may be, for example, asearch query relating to a general web search, a news search, an imagesearch, or another type of search.

Process 900 further includes identifying webpages as search results(block 920). The webpages may be identified by a search engine using asearch algorithm. The webpages may be documents that are determined bythe search engine to be relevant to the search query.

Process 900 further includes determining a normal snippet and asynthesized snippet for the webpages included in the search results(block 930). As previously mentioned, a normal snippet may include asnippet that is based on text extracted from the webpage that is beingdescribed by the snippet. The normal snippet may include at least someof the terms of the search query in the snippet. The synthesized snippetmay include a snippet that is generated pursuant to a process, such asprocess 500 (FIG. 5).

Process 900 further includes determining whether to use the normalsnippet or the synthesized snippet when providing the search results(block 940). The operation of block 940 may be similar to the operationsdescribed with respect to block 750 (FIG. 7). In general, it may bedesirable to provide a synthesized snippet, instead of the normalsnippet, when the synthesized snippet provides a higher-qualitydescription of the webpage than the normal snippet. For example, in someimplementations, a score relating the relevance of the normal snippet tothe webpage and a score relating the relevance of the synthesizedsnippet to the webpage may be calculated, and the synthesized snippetmay be provided when the score of the synthesized snippet is greaterthan the score of the normal snippet. The score of the synthesizedsnippet may be based on, for example, a number of sub-pages included inthe text of the synthesized snippet, the number of candidate sub-pagesthat could have been used to generate the text of the synthesizedsnippet, the length of the synthesized snippet, and/or quality scoresassociated with the sub-pages that were used to form the synthesizedsnippet. The score relating the relevance of the normal snippet to thewebpage may be determined based on, for example, the estimatedimportance of the terms in the normal snippet in the webpage, or otherfactors.

In some implementations, the type of the normal snippet may be relevantto the determination of whether to provide the normal snippet or thesynthesized snippet. For instance, the text of some normal snippets maybe based on meta-descriptions that are explicitly indicated by adesigner of the webpage. For these snippets, the normal snippet mayalways be used or may preferentially be used—e.g., the score of thenormal snippet may be increased by a particular amount.

Process 900 further includes generating a search result document,including the determined normal and/or synthesized snippets (block 950).Search server 210 may include links, to the relevant webpages, in thesearch result document. In addition to the links to the relevantwebpages, the search result document may include a normal snippet or asynthesized snippet for each of the relevant webpages.

Process 900 furthers include transmitting the search result document tothe client, such as client 205 (block 960). Client 205, in response toreceiving the search result document, may provide the search resultdocument to the user.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example interface 1000 that may beprovided to a user as part of a search result document generated basedon process 900. Interface 1000 may be provided, by a browser programexecuting at a client 205, in response to submission of a search queryto search engine 210. Interface 1000 may include a search box 1010 andsearch results 1020, 1030, and 1040. Search result 1020 may refer to thewebpage “primarygames.com” and may include a snippet 1025 that may be asynthesized snippet. Synthesized snippet 1025 may have been generatedbased on process 500 and may include titles corresponding to sub-pagesof the webpage “primarygames.com.” As illustrated, the titles of thesub-pages may include “math,” “dune buggy,” and “wild wild taxi.”

Search results 1030 and 1040 may be search results that include normalsnippets 1035 and 1045, respectively, that were generated based on textof the corresponding webpages and based on the search query (“primarygames”).

The user interfaces shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, in which synthesizedsnippets were provided, are examples of interfaces that may be used. Insome implementations, other techniques for presenting the synthesizedsnippets may be applied. For example, although the synthesized snippetsshown in FIGS. 8 and 10 are illustrated as plaintext snippets, eachtitle within a synthesized snippet may be provided as a link to thecorresponding sub-page, where the title may be provided as the anchortext of the link. In some possible implementations, a drop-downinterface may be used in which a synthesized snippet is shown to theuser when the user selects or mouses-over the search result. In somepossible implementations, the text of a synthesized snippet may includetext that is different or is in addition to the titles of the sub-pages.For instance, the text of a normal snippet can additionally be combinedwith or used to augment the text of the synthesized snippet.

As described above, a synthesized snippet may be provided as part of asearch result, in which the synthesized snippet may be based on textassociated with sub-pages, such as shortcut links, that are associatedwith the webpage of the search result. In some situations, thesynthesized snippet may provide a more informative or more descriptivesnippet than a normal snippet. As a result, user satisfaction withsearch results, provided in response to a search query, may increase.

The foregoing description provides illustration and description, but isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to theprecise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible inlight of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of theseimplementations.

For example, while series of blocks have been described with regard toFIGS. 5, 7, and 9, the blocks and/or the order of the blocks may bemodified in other implementations. Further, non-dependent blocks may beperformed in parallel. In addition, other blocks may be provided, orblocks may be eliminated, from the described flowcharts, and othercomponents may be added to, or removed from, the described systems.

It will be apparent that aspects described herein may be implemented inmany different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in theimplementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code orspecialized control hardware used to implement aspects does not limitthe implementations. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspectswere described without reference to the specific software code—it beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the aspects based on the description herein.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising,” when usedin this specification, is taken to specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, or components, but does not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,components, or groups thereof.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of the possible implementations. Infact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specificallyrecited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Althougheach dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one otherclaim, the disclosure of the possible implementations includes eachdependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the disclosed implementationsunless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article“a” is intended to include one or more items and may be usedinterchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, theterm “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on”is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitlystated otherwise.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving a search query; identifying multiple webpages that arerelevant to the search query; for each particular webpage of themultiple webpages: evaluating a first score associated with a firstsnippet based on the particular webpage and a second score associatedwith a second snippet based on the particular webpage, wherein: thefirst snippet is based on text from the particular webpage; the secondsnippet is based on text from other webpages that are linked to by theparticular webpage; the second score is based on a number of otherwebpages that are used to generate the second snippet and a length ofthe second snippet; and selecting only one snippet from the firstsnippet and the second snippet based on the first score and the secondscore respectively; and generating a search result document thatincludes a search result for each particular webpage of the multiplewebpages that are relevant to the search query, wherein each searchresult includes (i) a link that references the particular webpage, and(ii) the selected snippet.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the otherwebpages are part of the same website as the particular webpage.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, the method further comprising: determining whetherthe second score is higher than the first score; and in response todetermining that the second score is higher than the first score,selecting only the second snippet for inclusion in the search resultdocument in association with the link to the particular webpage.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the other webpages are part of a differentwebsite than the particular webpage.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe second snippet includes a link to each of the other webpages thatare part of the different web site.
 6. A system comprising: one or morecomputers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that areoperable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the oneor more computers to perform operations comprising: receiving a searchquery; identifying multiple webpages that are relevant to the searchquery; for each particular webpage of the multiple webpages: evaluatinga first score associated with a first snippet based on the particularwebpage and a second score associated with a second snippet based on theparticular webpage, wherein: the first snippet is based on text from theparticular webpage; the second snippet is based on text from otherwebpages that are linked to by the particular webpage; the second scoreis based on a number of other webpages that are used to generate thesecond snippet and a length of the second snippet; and selecting onlyone snippet from the first snippet and the second snippet based on thefirst score and second score respectively; and generating a searchresult document that includes a search result for each particularwebpage of the multiple webpages that are relevant to the search query,wherein each search result includes (i) a link that references theparticular webpage, and (ii) the selected snippet.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the other webpages are part of the same website as theparticular webpage.
 8. The system of claim 7, the operations furthercomprising: determining whether the second score is higher than thefirst score; and in response to determining that the second score ishigher than the first score, selecting only the second snippet forinclusion in the search result document in association with the link tothe particular webpage.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the otherwebpages are part of a different website than the particular webpage.10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second snippet includes a link toeach of the other webpages that are part of the different website.
 11. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprisinginstructions executable by one or more computers which, upon suchexecution, cause the one or more computers to perform operationscomprising: receiving a search query; identifying multiple webpages thatare relevant to the search query; and for each particular webpage of themultiple webpages: evaluating a first score associated with a firstsnippet based on the particular webpage and a second score associatedwith a second snippet based on the particular webpage, wherein: thefirst snippet is based on text from the particular webpage; the secondsnippet is based on text from other webpages that are linked to by theparticular webpage; the second score is based on a number of otherwebpages that are used to generate the second snippet and a length ofthe second snippet; and selecting only one snippet from the firstsnippet and the second snippet based on the first score and second scorerespectively; and generating a search result document that includes asearch result for each particular webpage of the multiple webpages thatare relevant to the search query, wherein each search result includes(i) a link that references the particular webpage, and (ii) the selectedsnippet.
 12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the otherwebpages are part of the same website as the particular webpage.
 13. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 12, the operations further comprising:determining whether the second score is higher than the first score; andin response to determining that the second score is higher than thefirst score, selecting only the second snippet for inclusion in thesearch result document in association with the link to the particularwebpage.
 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the otherwebpages are part of a different website than the particular webpage.